User:NathanaelB
I've typically just contributed walking trails, rural fences, some natural features, but recently been getting more into urban mapping.
I have an interest in ecohydrology and cartography, have dabbled with GIS a bit, and am learning watercolour painting so I can try my hand at making maps. My aspiration is to create maps that emphasise more of the topography and feel of a landscape than modern maps do. I feel that map-making over the past 50 years has lost some of the art of creating maps as we've transitioned to a city-centric roads and services view of the world using geocoded address data and stylesheets.
Blogs and social media
| Account | URL |
|---|---|
| My blog | https://medium.com/nathanaels-outdoors-journal |
| Mastodon | https://mountains.social/@natcbr |
| Pixelfed | https://pixelfed.social/natcbr |
Mapping in Queanbeyan, NSW
ACTmapi current (2025) aerial imagery
Offset for East Queanbeyan and Queanbeyan CBD
offset of E0.18, N-1.06 derived from an average of three GPS readings at a landmark in Sister City Park at -35.35169,149.2388.
Offset for Greenleigh
offset of E1.52, N-0.8 derived from an average of three GPS readings at a landmark in Bywong Park at -35.35689,149.24597.
WMS URL for JOSM
This is even more recent than the 2025-03 Urban map that is already available in JOSM:
wmts:https://tiles.arcgis.com/tiles/E5n4f1VY84i0xSjy/arcgis/rest/services/ACT_Aerial_Imagery_Current/MapServer/WMTS/1.0.0/WMTSCapabilities.xml
WMTS for OsmAnd
I haven't yet figured out how to add the new ACTmapi tiles as a WMTS layer in OsmAnd - so this section is incomplete.
If you make a mistake while adding a new map source in OsmAnd you can edit it via:
Maps & Resources > Local > Map sources > {map source name} > ⋮ > Edit
JOSM shortcut keys
Including some for the UtilsPlugin2, terracer, alignways, and ImproveWay plugins:
As far as I know, these are all default shortcut keys.
However, one shortcut I've changed that's not in this PDF is for toggling filters which I've changed from CTRL+ALT+E to just NumPad/ (as I don't use the keyboard for zoom in/out) which makes it easier to toggle off frequently used filters like the one to only show highway nodes instead of playing finger twister on the keyboard, and NumPad+ to create nodes at intersections of ways.
JOSM presets XML
This is the latest version of a presets XML file I created to accelerate my map editing in JOSM:
JOSM filters and tips
General filters
| Filter | Hiding | Inverse | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
-fixme=*
|
Yes | No | Shows me only objects that have a fixme tag.
|
landuse=*
|
No | No | Hides all objects with a landuse tag to declutter the screen; safer than using Purge.
|
new OR modified
|
Yes | Yes | Shows me only objects I've created or modified in the downloaded data layer. |
type:node
|
No | Yes | Makes it easier to select only nodes, particularly for aligning nodes for part of a way. |
type:node child highway
|
No | Yes | Show only nodes on roads, paths, steps etc |
type:way barrier=fence -fence_type
|
Yes | Yes | Show all ways tagged as a fence where a fence_type tag hasn't been set.
|
((building=house | building=semidetached_house) -parent (child service=driveway)) OR (type:way parent (child ((building=house | building=semidetached_house) -parent (child service=driveway)))) OR (service=driveway -parent (child building=*))
|
No | Yes | If this works correctly it should show me all houses that don't have a driveway connected to them, and all ways connected to such houses, as well as driveways not connected to any building. |
Filters for entrances and addresses
| Filter | Hiding | Inverse | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
"addr:housenumber"=* -"addr:street"=*
|
Yes | Yes | Shows only buildings tagged with a house number but not a street. |
(type:node barrier=gate -(access=* OR entrance=home) OR -child highway) OR (type:way barrier=gate -access=*)
|
No | Yes | Show me all gate nodes that either aren't part of a highway or don't have an access tag set or don't have entrance=home, as well as all gate ways that also don't don't have an access tag set.
|
type:node -entrance=* child highway child (building=house | building=semidetached_house | building=apartments | building=terrace)
|
Yes | Yes | Show all nodes shared with both a building (of type house, duplex, apartments or terrace) and highway where an entrance tag hasn't been set.
|
type:way closed building=* -parent entrance:
|
No | Yes | Show only buildings that don't have an entrance node.
|
building=apartments & -"addr:unit" -parent (entrance=* & "addr:unit")
|
Yes | Yes | Only show apartments that have neither addr:unit set on the building or any of their entrance=home nodes.
|
(building=* | highway=footway | service=driveway) parent (type:node -entrance=* (child building=* & child (highway=footway | service=driveway)))
|
Yes | Yes | Show only buildings, paths, and driveways that are not connected by any nodes with an entrance tag.
|
(building=* | highway=footway | service=driveway) parent (type:node (entrance=home | entrance=garage) (child building=* & child (highway=footway | highway=steps | service=driveway)))
|
No | Yes | Show only buildings, paths, and driveways that are connected by at least one node with an entrance tag with a value of either home or garage.
|
(building=* | highway=*) -parent (type:node (entrance=home | entrance=garage) child building=* & child (highway=footway | highway=steps | service=driveway))
|
No | Yes | Show only buildings and paths or roads that are not connected by at least one node with an entrance tag with a value of either home or garage.
|
(building=* | highway=*) -(parent (type:node (entrance=home | entrance=garage))) (parent (type:node child building=* & child (highway=footway | highway=steps | service=driveway)))
|
No | Yes | Buildings and highway=* that are not a parent of any node tagged entrance=home or entrance=garage but are the parent of at least one node that connects a building to a path, steps, or driveway.
This helps me identify buildings that have paths or driveways connecting to them where I forgot to tag the intersecting node as It does include non-residential buildings as there will be residential buildings tagged as |
(building=* | highway=*) -(parent (type:node (entrance=home | entrance=garage))) (parent (type:node child (building=house | building=apartments | building=terrace | building=semidetached_house | building=garage | building=carport) & child (highway=footway | highway=steps | service=driveway)))
|
No | Yes | As above, but specifies residential buildings only so might miss buildings not correctly tagged for example building=yes.
|
(building=* | highway=*) -parent (type:node (entrance=home | entrance=garage) (child building=* & child (highway=footway | highway=steps | service=driveway))) & ((building=* | highway=*) parent (type:node (child building=* & child (highway=footway | highway=steps | service=driveway))))
|
No | Yes | I'm sure there's a more elegant way to do this - it basically gets all parents of nodes that are shared by a building and a path or road as well as all shared nodes that are not tagged with entrance=home or entrance=garage so then it supposedly only show buildings and paths or roads where the building has not even one entrance tag set to home or garage. I did want to do it using boolean filters where one filter gets all, then the other removes from selection but it didn't work as I expected.
|
Mapping refuge islands and zebra crossings
Sharing how I think zebra marked crossings with a refuge island are meant to be tagged when done properly; I might add this to the wiki in a few weeks if this still seems correct:
<image of zebra crossing with flush kerb refuge island TBC>
Tips for drawing and tracing buildings
Using Angle Snapping (A) is useful, especially when you change the setting to snap to 45° angles as well, but it can still be faster to quickly map the outline of a building with 90° angles and then adjust afterwards.
Creating chamfered corners
Create your building with right angles so you can use the Orthagonalise tool to straighten everything out, but at chamfered corners create nodes at those corners so after you Orthagonalise you can delete the projected corner node to leave the chamfer.
Extrude to inset notches in buildings
Create nodes at the start and end of the notches and then use the Extrude tool to cleanly inset (or outset) those segments.
Tip for tracing wide roads and paths
Something that has helped me draw neater curves that don't zig zag left and right is to imagine raking a Zen sand garden. It helps me imagine where to place the node so it is equidistant from the edges on a perpendicular axis.
Tip for using Orthagonalise with Join Overlapping Areas tool
Orthagonalise is really handy, as long as your buildings have right angles. But you can still use Orthagonalise with 45° or even weird angles, by constructing a building with multiple ways, using Orthagonalise on each, and then merging them into one using the Join Overlapping Areas tool.
